Ribbon vibrator for typewriters



A. HOKANSON RIBBON VIBRATOR FOR TYPEWRIT I ERS. APPLICATION FILED APR. 2I, I919.

Patented (m. 117, 1922,

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RIBBON VIBRATOH FOR TYPEWRJTEBS. APPLICATION FILED APR. 21, 1919.

1&82, 1830 Pateniwd 0%. 117 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

wi -e55 I Patented first. 17, 1922.

UNHTEE STATE3 PATENT @FWQE.

OTTO A. I-IOKANSON, OF WOODSTOCK, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T WOODSTOCK TYPE- WRI'IER COMPANY, OF WOODSTOCK, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

RIBBON VIBRATOR FOR TYPEWRITERS.

Application filed. April 21, 1919.

T 0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, OTTO A. HoKANsoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at W ocdstock, in the county of McHenry and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ribbon Vibrators for Typewriters, of'which the following is a specification.

This invention has for its object the provision of mechanism of the character named Fig. 1. is a fragmentary vertical sectional view through a portion of a typewriter, illustrating one embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a portion ofthe mechanism shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view showing a modification of one part of the invention.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section showing a de tail of construction.

The numeral in the drawings designates a portion of a typewriter key lever.

which is pivotally mounted at 11 on the support 12 which forms a part of the frame of the typewriter. A'spring 13 normally holds the key lever 10 in its upper position and the tension of the spring 13 may be adjusted by a screw 14 having a spring'15 for preventing the screws from accidental rotation. A universal bar 16 is-located in position to be engaged by the key levers 10 when they are depressed and is pivoted at 17 upon the frame of the machine. An upwardly extending arm 18 is connected with the universal bar 16 and a spring 19 is interposed between the arm 18 and a portion 20 of the machine frame for the purpose of holding the universal bar 16 resiliently in its uppermost osition. The tension of the spring 19 may be adjusted by a screw 21 having a lock nut 22 connected therewith.

The typewriter ribbon 23 is supported by a ribbon carrier 24 connected with the outer end of a ribbon vibrator lever 25. The ribbon vibrator lever 25 is pivotally mount- Serial No. 291.509.

ed at 26 on a bracket 2'? which carries a platen shift rail 28. The bracket 27 is pivoted at 29 to permit'raising and lowering of the platen in a well known manner.

Secured to the lower face of the upper frame plate of the typewriter is a depending bracket 30, Fig. 2, having a laterally extending arm 31 which carries a U-shaped bar 32. Pivotally mounted on a bolt 33, supported by the bar 32, is an oscillatory member 34 which has a link 35 pivoted at 36 on the upper end thereof. The other end of the link 35 is pivotally connected at 37 to the ribbon vibrator 25. The U-bar 32 carries a projection 38 provided with a set screw 39 which forms a limit stop for the movement of the oscillatory member 34 in one direction about its pivotal support A spring 40 normally holds the oscillatory member 34 against the stop bolt 39 and a lock nut 41 is provided for holding the bolt 39 in various positions of adjustment. A link 42 is pivotally mounted at 43 on a bell crank 44 and the lower end of the link 42 is pivoted at 45 to the upper end of a link 46 which has its lower end pivoted at 47 to the upper end of the arm 18. The pivotal connection 45 between the links 42 and 46 is provided with a roller 48 disposed in a cam groove 49 formed in the oscillatory member 34. VVhen the parts are in the po sition shown in Fig. 1, movement of the universal bar 16 when a key is depressed will cause the roller 48 to travel in the groove 49 and move the lower face of the groove downwardly as the roller swings about its pivot 43. This will oscillate the member 34 and will cause the link 35 to swing the vibrator 25 about its pivot 26 and raise the-ribbon 23. Thus, whenever a key of the typewriter is struck, the ribbon 23 is lifted into the printing line so that an im pression is made by the type when it strikes the ribbon. As soon as the key is released, the springs 19 and 40, working in conjunction with one another, return the oscillator-y member 34 to its normal position and withdraw the ribbon 23 from the printing line. The upward movement of the ribbon is limited by a pin 50 carried on the lower arm of the bell crank 44 and extending into the path of movement of the projection 51 on the oscillatory member 34. When the lower face of the projection 51 strikes the pin 50, it will be apparent that the oscilla- 1m tory member can swing no further aboutits pivot 83 and the upward movement of the ribbon 23 will therefore be arrested.

The bell crank lever 44 is .secured to the end of a shaft 52 journaled in the free end 53 of the U-bar 32 and also in the lower end of a bracket 54 which depends from the to frame plate of the typewriter. The sha t 52 is provided with a lever arm 55 having a link 56 pivoted to the end thereof by which the shaft may be oscillated in its hearings to shift the position of the bell crank lever 44. Any suitable lever mechanism, not shown, may be used for shifting the link 56 for oscillating the shaft 52. The shaft 52 is held in its various positions of adjustment by a segment 57 having a series of notches 58 in its periphery. Aspring 59 is bent to form a tooth 60 to fit into the notches 58 and hold the segment in its variouspositions of adjustment. Thespring 59 is connected by a screw 61 to a bracket 62 secured to the under face of the top frame plate of the typewriter and an offset ear 63 is formed on the bracket 62 to form a journal for the shaft 52 adjacent the segment 57.

As shown in the drawings, the segment '57 is provided with a series of notches 58 for holding the bell crank lever 44 in three principal positions designated by the letters a, b and 0 in Fig. 1 of the drawings and in other positions intermediate the three so designated. As will be readily understood, shifting of the bell crank lever 44 will change. thepivotal center 43 of the link 42 and hence vary the relation between the movement of the roller 48 and the cam groove 49. When the pivotal center 43 of the link 42 is in position a, the arc of move ment of the roller 48 will substantially coincide with the arc of the cam groove 49 so that in this position movement of the uni versal bar 16 will not affect the position of the ribbon vibrator 25 and the ribbon will not be raised into the printing line. This position of adjustment of the bell crank 44 is the one that is employed in cutting stencils for which work it is desirable, of course, that the ribbon remain out of the printing line. When the bell crank 44 is in position a, the pin 50 will be in position a and will engage the lower face of the projection 51 to positively hold the oscillatory member 34 in its initial position. When the bell crank 44 is adjusted to position Z the amount of. vibration imparted to the ribbon will be sufficient to raise the upper portion of the ribbon into printing line when a key is struck. If the ribbonbea two-colored one, this position will be the one for writing on black or what ever color is used for ordinary writing purposes. The pin 50 will be in position b corresponding to position 7) of the bell crank lever and will limit the upward movement of'the ribbon to an amount sufficient to bring the upper half of the ribbon into the printin line.

llVhen the bell crank 44 is shifted to position c, the-pin 50 will engage a downwardly extending projection 64 on the oscillatory member 34 and the movement of the bell crank lever into this position will cause the member 34 to be oscillated about its pivot 33 a suflicient amount to bring the lower portion of the ribbon 23 into the printing line. This shifting of the ribbon it will be understood is accomplished by the rotation of the shaft 52 and does not depend upon the o era tion of the type keys. The pin 50 will be held in the position 0' by one of the notches inthe segment 57 and the ribbon will be re tain'ed continuously in its extreme upper position independently of the operation of the type keys. This is the adjustment which will be employed for writing on red when a two-colored ribbon is employed, and it will be understood that the ribbon remains in this position during the operation of the machine and is not withdrawn from the writing line to permit the characters to be seen while the ribbon vibrator is held in this position of adjustment. Thisovercomes the necessity of raising the ribbon the additional distance necessary to bring the lower portion into the printing line each time a key is struck and consequently the action of the key levers is no harder for writing red than for writing in black as would be the case if it were necessary to shift the ribbon the additional amount each time a key is struck. The fact that the writing line is covered while writing in red is of small consequence for the reason that this portion of the ribbon is used only occasionally. When the bell crank 44 is shifted into a position intermediate the positions I) and 0, operation of a key lever will cause the ribbon to be raised to a height between these corresponding to the position reached when the bell crank is in positions I) and 0. Thus the ribbon vibrator has a variable throw to permit of operation on different zones of the ribbon, and it may also be shifted independently of the key levers into a fixed position to operate on still an additional zone. 5'

In the modification shown in Fig. 3, the lower projection 64 on the oscillatory member 34 is made much longer than in the form shown in Fig. 1 to provide a cam face 65 for cooperating with the pin 50in positions of the bell crank 44 intermediate the positions 6 and c. The cam surface 65 is so shaped that it will be struck by the pin 50 during the movement of the bell crank lever 44 and the member 34 will be partially rotated about its pivot 33 so as to impart an initial movement to the vibrator 25 prior to the action of the key'lever. The initial'iniove ment imparted to the vibrator by the pin 50 is sufficient to raise the ribbon so that the remaining movement imparted by the roller 4-8, under the influence of the typewriter key, will be equal to the movement-imparted to the vibrator by the typewriter keys when the bell crank is in position b. In other words, although the bell crank 44 is shifted so that the ribbon is raised to different positions when the keys are struck, nevertheless the throw imparted by the keys is, constant for the reason that the ribbon is first set in different initial positions by the pin 50 and the cam surface 65. In the final position 0', however, of the bell crank, the pin 50 raises the ribbon into its extreme uppermost position in the same way as was explained in connection with Fig. 1 so that in the uppermost position there is no vibration of the ribbon during the operation of the keys. This arrangement provides a non-variable throw vibrator that may be set for operation of the type on different Zones of the ribbon and that may also be shifted, independently of the key levers, like the form previously described, into an additional fixed position for operation on still another zone of the ribbon.

I claim:

1. In a typewriter, a universal bar, keylevers arranged to move said bar, a ribbon vibrator, mechanism actuated by said universal bar for operating said ribbon vibrator, and means for adjusting said vibratoroperating mechanism to control the throw of said vibrator by said keylever and for moving said vibrator-operating mechanism to shift the ribbon carried thereby into one position of adjustment and to hold the ribbon in said position of adjustment during operation of said key-levers.

2. In a typewriter having key-levers thereon, a ribbon vibrator, an oscillatory mfember actuated by said key-levers for operating said vibrator to move the ribbon thereon into and out of printing position, and means for shifting said oscillatory member independently of said key-levers to operate said vibrator and move said ribbon into printing position.

3. In a typewriter having key-levers, ribbon vibrator, mechanism actuated by said key-levers for operating said vibrator to move said ribbon toward the printing position, and means for operating said vibrator operating mechanism independently of said key-levers to impart a movement to said rib bon, toward the printing position, of a greater amplitude than the movement im-- parted to said ribbon when said vibrator is actuated by said key-levers.

4:. In a typewriter having key-levers, a ribbon vibrator, means actuated by said key-levers for operating said vibrator to im part a movement to the ribbon carried thereby to bring a portion of said ribbon into printing position, means for operating said ribbon vibrator operating mechanism independently of said key-levers to impart a greater movement to said ribbon to bring a diiierent portion of said ribbon into printing position, and means for holding said ribbon in said last-mentioned position independently of the operation of said keylevers. v

5. In a typewriter having key-levers, a ribbon vibrator, mechanism actuated by said key-levers for operating said vibrator, means for adjusting saidoperating mechanism to control the amount of movement of said vibrator, and means for imparting movement to said vibrator independently of said key-levers to shift the ribbon on said vibrator to bring a portion thereof into printing position, said last-named meansbeing arranged to retain said vibrator and rib bon in said position independently of the operation of said key-levers.

6. In combination, a ribbon vibrator, an oscillatory member for operating said vibrator to move a portion of the ribbon carried by said vibrator into and out of printing position, key-lever actuated mechanism for moving said oscillatory member, means for adjusting said key-lever actuated mechanism to vary the movement of said oscillatory member imparted thereto by said keylever actuated mechanism, and means for moving said oscillatory member independently of said key-lever actuated mechanism to impart a greater movement to said vibrator than that imparted thereto by said key-lever actuated mechanism, said lastnamed means being arranged to hold said vibrator in position at the extremity of its movement.

7. In a typewriter, a ribbon vibrator, keylever actuated mechanism for operating said vibrator, means for adjusting said key-lever actuated mechanism to cause said mechanism to bring the ribbon on said vibrator to different limiting positions of movement and for varying the initial position of said ribbon so that the amount of movement imparted thereto by said vibrator shall be the same for the difierent adjustments of said key-lever actuated mechanism, and means for moving said vibrator to bring the ribbon thereon into an extreme position of adj ustment and for holding said ribbon in such extreme position independently of the operation of said key-lever actuated mechanism.

8. In combination, a ribbon vibrator, keylever actuated mechanism for operating said vibrator, mechanism for adjusting the initial position of said vibrator, and said key-lever actuated mechanism so that a uniform throw will be imparted to said vibrator from different initial positions to bring the ribbon on said vibrator into difierent positions of adjustment, and means for moving said vibrator independently of said key-lever actuated mechanism to move said ribbon into an extreme position of adjustment and to hold ,said ribbon insaid extreme position independently of the operation of said keylever actuated mechanism.

9. In a typewriter, a ribbon vibrator, an oscillatory member for operating said vibrator, a pivoted link for moving said oscillatory member, key-lever actuated mechanism for moving said link, means for shifting the pivotal center of said link to cause said oscillatory member to be moved by said link and key-lever actuated mechanism to different positions of adjustment, and means for shifting said oscillatory member independently of said link and key-lever actuated mechanism and for holding said oscillatory member in the position into which it is thus shifted.

10. In a typewriter, a ribbon vibrator, key-levers, an oscillatory member for operating said ribbon vibrator to move the ribbon carried thereby into and out of printing position, mechanism actuated by said key-levers for operating said oscillatory member, and an adjusting device having means thereon for controlling the movement imparted to said oscillatoryzmember by said key-levers and for operating said oscillatory member independently of said key-levers to operate said ribbon vibrator to move the ribbon thereon into printing position and to hold said ribbon in said position. y

In testimony whereof Ivhave signed my name to this specification on this 16th day of April, A. D. 1919.

OTTO A. HOKANSON. 

